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When I told my next door neighbor in May of 2008 that I was going to sell the house along with all of my personal possessions and move to Chiclayo Peru with my Peruvian wife, his response was..” That’s a path not many men walk.” I had that impression as well, but have since learned that many men and women have walked and continue to walk that path. There is a large expatriate community in Lima and a significant number of gringos scattered about the remainder of the country from the larger coastal cities to the smallest jungle villages. Many of them have personal blogs in which they offer travel advice, news, and a wealth of other information along with their individual experiences. The purpose of this blog is not so far reaching. My intent is simply to record my experiences and observations for family, friends and anyone else who may be interested, but mostly for myself. Peru is to me a musical, magical land and I’ve found that writing about it helps me to preserve the beauty I experience as I explore this enchanting country. Anyway, thanks for visiting my site. Feel free to come back again, and leave a comment if you’d care to or send an email to me at kaetan1@gmail.com.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

We thought that the chocolatadas in San Bernardino
and El Pavo would be our last activities for the year but that was before we
received a generous donation from Mrs. Taylor with instructions to use it to “help
a needy family”. In the desert villages of the Lambayeque Region the word ‘needy’
is a matter of degrees. Nearly all of the families are needy; it’s just that
some are poorer than others.

During the chocolatada in San Bernardino we
asked Rosa, one of the pronoei directors if she could steer us to a needy
family in the village. She told us of the Pinglo Santa Maria family, adding
that she occasionally helps them with a bag of rice or article of clothing.

The Pinglo Santa
Marias live in a modest adobe house on the edge of the village. Maria Ines and
her husband Porfirio have six children: Maria 13, Daisy 12, Maritza 5, Janina 3,
Giancarlo 2 and Luis Miguel 6 months, who is sleeping in the bag suspended from
the ceiling. Porfirio works in farm fields owned by others. Maria takes care
of the house and kids. Based on our walk through the village and discussion with others,
the Pinglo Santa Marias probably are the poorest of the poor in San Bernardino.

When we asked Maria what would help her she
said food and clothing for the kids, so that is what we returned with today. Maria
had taken the baby to a clinic so was not at home when we arrived. Her mother
was there watching the kids. Shown on the table is everything from paneton to toilet
paper. There are noodles, rice, sugar, tuna, cooking oil, chocolate and candy among
other things. Some of the canned and packaged items are probably new to the
family, being beyond their financial means. Augmented with food from their
garden these items will probably carry them through for the next four weeks.

Each of the six children were given two pairs
of shorts and two tops. The family won’t need to buy clothing for the kids for the
coming summer months.

Half of the village kids were in that house
thirty seconds after we arrived. It was hard to ignore their stares as we gave
a toy to each of Maria's three youngest kids. Maritza already had her toy from the
chocolatada.

Maribel and I were impressed with the
responsibility shown by Maria and Daisy, the two older girls. They took charge
of the food, toys and clothing, telling their siblings they couldn’t eat, wear
or play with anything until mom came back. We like to see those indications of
training and discipline in the home.

It was a good experience in San
Bernardino this morning. Lots of happy people including us! Mrs. Taylor, thank you from the Pinglo Santa Maria family, and
thank you from Promesa Peru for allowing us to finish our year on a high note.

Monday, December 22, 2014

We were about fifteen miles south of Tùcume,
returning from the San Bernardino chocolatada when Marcos turned off the
highway onto a dirt road. He said he wanted to show us something. He and Saida,
me and Maribel were all feeling that combination of satisfaction and weariness we
usually experience after a successful event and weren’t quite ready to return
to Chiclayo. We drove for several miles and with each passing mile the road got
narrower and the houses fewer. At a point in the road he slowed and began to
turn, and when I saw what he apparently was going to turn onto, I couldn’t
believe it. He eased the car onto a mud ramp that stood two feet above a
surrounding, recently plowed field. The ramp led to a tiny house several hundred
yards in the distance. If Marcos had varied the car three inches either way, of
if a small section of the ramp had collapsed I have no doubt that we would have
spent the night in his car, waiting for a tow truck the next morning. But he
didn’t vary and it didn’t collapse, and after several harrowing minutes (for me
and Maribel) we arrived at the house.

This is the house Marcos was born in. It
sits on an island surround by farm fields as far as the eye can see. The house
was built, and the fields farmed years ago by Marcos’s father. The father is
gone…the fields now owned by Marcos and his siblings are rented to others to
farm. But the house remains and will remain as a tribute to their father.

The adobe house had two rooms, one used as
a bedroom and the other for everything else. Though the roof is gone, the walls
are still surprisingly intact. On the west side of the house there is a bench
and a flat rock. The rock was the father’s favorite place to sit after the day’s
chores were finished – the kids and mom sat on the bench.

There are grape arbors on two sides of the
house, where several of the ancient vines are still producing grapes. Shading
the house is a small grove of mango trees of two varieties – criollo and
alcanforado. The branches were drooping with fruit. On the south side of the house
there are two tamarindo trees, also loaded with fruit. Marcos shook the
branches while Maribel and Saida gathered the fallen fruit.

While the others were gathering mangos and
tamarindo I slowly circled and listened to the house. It talked to me. I sat on
the rock that Marcos’s father sat on and listened as he must have done to the
wind rustling the leaves of the mango trees. Occasionally I could hear the
others talking, and once a single-engine plane passed in the distance, but
beyond that there was nothing…only the wind in the trees.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

I’d like to start this post with a general
observation about small desert villages and ‘events’, be it a birthday, anniversary
or chocolatada. After five years of attending these things, It seems to me that
the purpose of these activities is to have the event…. enjoying it isn’t even a consideration. All the ingredients for fun
are there – a cause, food and music, but rarely is there laughter. That’s not a
complaint, merely an observation. If that’s the custom and culture of these
villagers, fine with me.

Brian is home during a university break and
offered to help with the El Pavo chocolatada. He has seen poor villages in his
travels but I think he was a bit surprised at the degree of poverty in El Pavo.
His question to me, “This is the
school….?” is what tipped me off.

Those parents who had the means chose to
dress the kids in their best finery. The school director Amalia started the
activities by leading the kids in a song. They sang Cholito Jesus, a common
song that is sung at Christmas in schools throughout Peru.

While the kids were singing, the village
women brought the food that they had prepared in their homes into the
classroom. It was the standard chocolatada meal; chicken, paneton, and hot
chocolate, followed by empanadas, candy and juice that had been donated by
Promesa Peru member Yescenia.

When we began to hand out the toys we heard
ooohs and ahhhs from several of the parents. The toys we gave to the kids were
not extravagant, but the parents were expecting balls and other simple toys. If
you click on the photo and look at the little girl lower left, you’ll see that
she has discovered that her doll lights up and talks. Those are the good
moments at a chocolatada.

This is a rare photo at a chocolatada… showing
village men who attended. Usually they are either working or for whatever
reason never show up. These men stood in the background and didn’t participate,
but upon our leaving each of them thanked us for our contribution.

The El Pavo villagers are poor and uneducated.
They don’t have much but they do know how to work the land…and to show
appreciation. They gave us these food items to take home with us.

Friday, December 19, 2014

…. with a clown. People in villages like
San Bernardino aren’t accustomed to organized events, and particularly to
events sponsored by strangers so the atmosphere at first is always reserved.
The clown quickly relaxes them, and when he gets the kids, parents and teachers
involved in games and foolishness things really start to loosen up. Payasito
the clown did a good job of setting the tone for the remainder of the time.

This is the classic chocolatada meal…pantone,
empanadas, chicken and hot chocolate. The second course consisted of candy,
cookies and orange juice. The kids knew that toys would be next so most of them
ate at warp speed or gave what was left of their food to their mothers so they
could show that their plates were empty.

The reaction to the toys wasn’t what we
expected. There wasn’t the excitement we usually see, and only a few of the
kids took the toys out of the containers. Later we were told that most of the
mothers had told their kids not to play with the toys until they got home and
could share them with their siblings.

Teachers Viviana and Rosa had done most of
the organizing including arranging for us to use the primary school for the
party.

The Promesa Peru ‘crew’ included Maribel,
Marcos, Saida and our newest member Yescenia. Yescenia had gathered donations
of candy, used clothing, shoes and household items which were given to the
teachers to be distributed to the villagers.

Three hours after it started the party was over.
Mothers carrying leftover food, and kids with their toys returned to their
homes. That was yesterday. Later today our crew will be returning to the Tùcume
District for the El Pavo chocolatada. It’s going to be a smaller, less involved
event. We’re curious to see how it turns out.Thanks to Chris R,
Amy B, Ray and Rose, and Graham T for making both chocolatadas possible.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Six weeks ago it
looked as if we wouldn’t be able to sponsor a chocolatada. Now we’re four days
away from a chocolatada for two pronoeis in San Bernardino, and the following
day in El Pavo. All the arrangements are in place and everything is bought and
paid for. And on top of that we’ve just received a generous donation for the
purpose of “helping needy families.” There are going to be a lot of happy and
grateful kids, parents and teachers in those villages this Christmas season,
and all because some caring and generous people stepped forward. We know you don’t need our thanks but we offer
it anyway. Thank you. We hope you’ll
enjoy the posts and photos to come.

Monday, December 1, 2014

You did it. We’ve got the money for a
chocolatada for both pronoeis in San
Bernardino. It will take place on Thursday, December 18 at 2:00 PM. The primary
school has agreed to let us use their facility which has plenty of room for the
50 kids plus parents, teachers and others attending. We’ve already purchased most of the
toys and will soon buy the paneton and hot chocolate ingredients. The clown and
transportation are arranged for. The Parent’s association will provide the
food. Everything is in place.

It’s going to be a fun-filled and enjoyable afternoon and I don’t want to detract from it at all, but as we're buying these things Maribel and I can’t help but
think of the 8 other schools we had to say no to, and especially the kids in
the village of El Pavo, where we donated classroom equipment a few months ago. That village is just.....it's so poor and forlorn. If we hadn't already committed to trying to raise funds for a chocolatada for San Bernardino we would have chosen El Pavo instead. We spoke yesterday with the
school director Amalia, hoping that a merchant or two in Tucùme might have donated things for a chocolatada, but no luck. This morning over breakfast we made a decision. We're going to give toys to those kids.

There are 15 of them…3 boys and 12 girls.

This is a list of their names. The cost for a toy like those shown above is $7. If you'd like to provide a toy for Grecia or Kiara or Dayan or any of the others please visit the Promesa
Peru webpage. That would take some of the financial burden from us and will give those kids something to treasure. Thank you.*UPDATE* A very generous individual has donated the money to purchase toys for all 15 kids in El Pavo. We will provide panetone, candy and hot chocolate. El Pavo is going to have a chocolatada this year! Any further donations received this month will be held for activities in the coming year.